Asus Zenfone 6 User Review – User Interface (#extraordinary)

It is hard to migrate ourselves from high end smartphone to mid or even low budget segment device and it is perhaps next to impossible to give away your nexus device and use another smartphone from mid segment. Well, I took the challenge of replacing my beloved nexus 5 with Asus Zenfone 6. It was not going to be a permanent replacement but I just wanted to feel the so-called user interface that Asus had implemented on its new Zenfone lineup. Since the company itself distributed us a device, I decided to replace my primary device to Nexus 5 for seven days. This is the first article from our series of Asus Zenfone 6 User Review. Now, instead of covering a normal review we have decided to take a different approach which you would notice throughout this series. We will be covering user reviews in the span of 3 weeks. In that span, we would cover as much information as possible. Let us now move ahead and discuss about the user interface which is our main topic today.

Asus Zenfone 6 User Review – UI

Zenfone 6 – User Interface

Now, first of all, you all are thinking about this damn huge screen and how you are gonna use it with one hand, I must tell you that it has got one hand operation settings which can come handy.

One Hand Operations

One Hand Mode in Zenfone 6

With one hand operations, user can select the screen size such as 4.3 inches, 4.5 inches or 4.7 inches. Additionally, user can also select whether he or she would prefer screen to be on left or right hand side.

I have been playing around with various screen size, I must admit that it is quite an useful addition in the overall feature list.

Home Panel and Lock screen

Asus started shipping out Zenfone series smartphones such as Zenfone 4, 5 and 6 sometime in July-August 2014 and the main attraction of this series was revamped user interface. Starting off with the lock-screen and home-screen panel itself, I’m putting them all in screenshots below.

Home-screen and Lockscreen on Zenfone 6

The home panel has got three default screens which are totally customizable. You can add new screens and move them around very easily. By default, there are bunch of Asus apps that are grouped under Asus folder. Other Google apps such as Chrome, Maps and Google+ are grouped under Google folder.

The lock-screen gives a very good overview of the notifications. Three circular icons provide count of the notifications from their respective apps. For example, as seen in the screenshot above, I had five unread messages and it was right there being provided for me to have an idea about them. Once you have any events coming up for you within next 2-3 days, they will all appear on the right half portion of the screen. All your carrier information is just right there at bottom. And, most important, you can just swipe across anywhere to unlock your screen.

Notifications and Quick toggles

Moving on to the notifications area and quick toggles, the user interface has been kept very minimal. The notification area has the combination of sky blue color and white color. Clicking on quick toggles button, you will be presented with bunch of quick buttons such as flashlight, RAM boost, calculator, memo, WiFi connectivity, auto rotation, one handed operation and so on and so forth. You can totally customize which toggles you want there and you can also define their order. That’s cool isn’t it? Here, take a look!

Zenfone 6 – Notifications and Quick Toggles

Contacts in Zenfone 6

The contacts app that is pre-installed in Zenfone 6 is one of the most loved application from my side. Once you click on any contact and open it up, you will see really nice layout along with some random background wallpaper underneath the contact picture. So, make sure that most of your frequent contacts have profile photo.

Scrolling through the contact list is brisk too. Nothing lags and you might just enjoy that as well.

Contacts in Zenfone 6

Calendar

The second most intuitive app is Calendar application. It has got this flat color which covers up notification drawer and app’s title bar. Switching to month view, will give you nice and quick overview of the events happening in your calendar. Clicking on a particular date would provide you the details of that event right beneath the calendar view.

Settings

Since the phone is shipped with dual SIM option, you have the ability to switch between them as and when needed. You can work out on these things under dual SIM settings option. Apart from that, the company has also changed the layout of settings panel which looks much better that the stock Android. I might not go into the details in settings since most of them are common in every Android phone, I would like to bring your attention to Asus customized settings which gives you an ability to change few default settings. For example, you can select an action for recent apps key from three different choices. You can also select the screenshot file format and there is this glove mode as well which would increase touch sensitivity.

Here is how both calendar and settings appear on Zenfone 6.

Calendar and settings in Zenfone 6

Tasks vs SuperNote

I don’t know why there are two applications that are doing very same tasks but to those who are concerned, the phone has got Notes application which has got the ability to sync your Google Keep tasks. On the other hand, Super Note has got pretty neat writing pad designs which looks great.

I just thought I should introduce these two apps to you and let you decide your favorite companion.

Tasks vs Super Note – Asus Zenfone 6

Clocks and Alarm – Zenfone 6

One thing that is most important is no matter how heavily theme these apps are, everything runs buttery smooth. Alarm app is one such app which has got some real nice modifications. The first layout allows you to choose your home country time zone. Switching between these time zones is quite easy here. The second tab has got everything that is needed to wake you up in the morning. The third tab and fourth tab has got timer and stop watch respectively.

Here is how beautiful they look.

Alarm App on Zenfone 6

PC Link, Party Link, Share Link

Asus has bundled these three apps with Zenfone 6 which are suitable for carrying out various day to day operations. For example, PC Link application is very useful in controlling media player remotely over USB connection. Party Link app is very helpful in connecting to nearby devices and sharing photos instantly. The third app i.e., Share Link is useful in sharing normal files quickly.

PC Link, Party Link and Share Link

Well, I’m tired now and I need to go for really good sleep.

I have tried to talk about all applications and their respective features which were worth noticing. However, I might have missed few and if that is the case, please put those apps in comments below. I would be happy to include them and talk about them in detail.

In the next blog post, we will talk about camera performance which has been impressive till now. Till then, keep looking! [Camere review is up now]